


The Broken

by ab2fsycho



Series: Why is Tea Always Gone [10]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: M/M, doing the thing, goddammit alex, here i go again, where i hurt someone's feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-05
Updated: 2013-11-05
Packaged: 2017-12-31 15:24:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1033267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ab2fsycho/pseuds/ab2fsycho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pitch must help Onna through a crisis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Broken

“Pitch!” Rin appeared out of the shadows, careening and tumbling across the stone before the Nightmare King. “Pitch, come quick!”

“What is it?” The hairs on the back of Pitch’s neck rose, and the nervousness that was causing the Fearling to shake was not a comfort.

“It’s Onna,” Rin said, his chest heaving as he attempted to get back on his feet. After such a clumsy entrance, it was a wonder he didn’t injure himself.

But the words he’d spoken sank in before Pitch could ask if he was alright. “What of her? What’s happened?”

“I don’t know!” Rin cried. He looked utterly horrified. “She won’t speak. She’s just crying, and her tears are freezing, and she won’t talk to me!”

That was unusual. There was nothing Onna wouldn’t speak of to Rin. Pitch’s spine stiffened, his brow furrowing as he said, “Show me. Take me to her.”

“Right this way,” Rin answered, grabbing Pitch’s hand and pulling him through the shadows. Rin’s fingers were shivering, his digits clammy and cooler than usual. When he and Pitch reemerged from the shadows, they were in a back alley in Japan. “This way,” Rin said, pulling the Boogeyman deeper into the alley as they ignored the nighttime bustle of the sleepless city.

He heard the sobbing before he saw her. His gut turned at the sound, and flip-flopped even more as they approached Onna. At first, it just looked like she was covering her eyes. As he drew nearer, it was clear that her tears had frozen on her face and her hands were stuck to her lids and cheeks. “Onna!” When she heard his voice, her sobbing grew. “Onna dear, hold on. I can fix this.” He reached for her, and she jerked away at first. Her crying didn’t cease. “Onna, it’s alright. Rin and I have got you.” It crossed his mind that someone had hurt her. She didn’t look harmed, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t been hurt. The thought made his blood boil.

“Onna, let us get you home. Okay? Sound good?” Rin asked. Pitch saw the boy clench his fists in his hair, clearly distressed over his adoptive sibling’s condition.

Onna still didn’t relent. Pitch reached for her again, but she managed to kick away from him and fall backwards. She muttered something unintelligible, the two darker beings straining to hear her. The needed not strain any further. Her declamation grew louder as she went on, repeating the words, “They’re dead,” over and over again.

“Onna, listen,” Pitch said, ignoring her protests and gathering her up in his arms. “It’s alright. We’re taking you home and getting you cleaned up. Now please,” he ran a comforting hand through her black hair, her body tense yet growing less stiff, “calm down. We’ve got you.”

“We’ve got you,” Rin repeated after him.

Onna’s crying turned to dry, quiet sobs. It sounded more like she couldn’t catch her breath now. Her hands still frozen to her cheeks, her body lost some of its tenseness and she was reduced to a shivering mess. Her head pressed to his neck as he cradled her against him, he carried her and followed Rin into the shadows again. As they stepped into the lair, Pitch carried her to her room. Over time, a part of the lair had been transformed into a room for Rin and Onna, though Onna stayed in it more than Rin. Setting the girl down on her snow-covered bed, she croaked out, “I lost my glasses.”

“Rin will get you a new pair,” Pitch told her. Tracing a finger over the area where her palm was stuck to her cheek, he said, “Now let’s take care of your lovely face, dear.” As he worked his fingers between her hands and face, he used his heat to undo what her tears had created. It was a slow, painless yet annoying process. By the time Pitch had completely separated her hand from her face, there was a purple blush where her skin had been stuck and traces of ice still settled on her blue cheeks. All he had to do was run his fingertips over her eyelids to brush away the ice that was keeping her from opening her eyes. When she looked up at him, her iridescent gaze was still wet, red, and ready to release more frozen beads at any moment. Her bottom lip and chin quivered as she stared at him, her terror weighing heavy on his senses. “What happened Onna?” he asked. Her lip shook more, the wetness growing in her eyes. He wiped the tears away with his thumbs. “There there. You’re safe here. You can tell us anything.”

Her jaw set at that. Through gritted teeth, she said again, “They’re dead.”

“Who are dead?” Pitch asked as Rin settled in next to him.

Onna closed her eyes and looked down, silent for a moment. Then she began, “I . . . was trying to help a boy. He was lost. He’d lost his mother. He could see me. No one else could, but he could see me.” She stared at her hands. “I had my gloves on. I had my glasses on. I didn’t hurt him. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. But . . . but these men. They tried to pick up the boy and run away with him. He started screaming.” Her voice got higher. “He started screaming. He didn’t know them. They were mean to him. I tried to stop them. I tried to save him.” Her hands started shaking, like her voice. “My glasses. They came off. I took off my gloves, thinking I could just make them slip on ice or something. I didn’t think they’d see me . . . but then,” she gazed up at Pitch, her eyes filling with tears again as her throat visibly tightened, “then . . . I looked into . . . no, they looked into my eyes. They saw me, and . . .,” her mouth hung agape for a moment before she said, “they froze. They froze solid.” Her voice broke again, and she started crying once more. “I killed them!”

Hunching over, she leaned into Pitch’s abdomen as he wrapped his arms around her protectively. This time he let her cry. He held her as sobs racked her small frame, her cries tearing into his senses as he wished for a better way to comfort her. Rin stared at him as he held her, and the two probably could’ve had a telepathic conversation at that point. Rin looked just as shocked at Onna’s confession as Pitch supposed he should feel. Honestly, this was not the sort of situation he’d imagined finding himself in with Onna. Out of the four of them, including Jack, she was the least violent. It said something that Jack was more violent than Onna, and yet Onna had managed to . . . she’d killed mortals. She had actually killed mortals. They’d known, they’d all known her abilities and their range, but they’d never expected this to happen. Not so soon at least.

Then Pitch thought of the nature of the killing. She’d killed them protecting a child. That was something he could eventually appreciate, but what about the one who’d raised her? Was this . . . was this what the Man in the Moon had intended for her? A life of guarding children in the most sinister way, more sinister than the Nightmare King’s way even? That is, if anyone considered sending children nightmares as warnings a form of guarding.

He was thinking too far ahead. Right now, he needed to calm Onna. “Shh,” he said softly. “It’s alright.”

“Not it’s not! I’m a murderer,” she whimpered against him. “Everyone’ll hate me.”

“That’s not true,” Rin murmured, walking on his knees and positioning himself behind her as both men held her. “No one here hates you.”

“But I killed them!” she cried. “I’m a monster!”

“Then you fit right in with this family,” Rin muttered. Pitch glared, reaching over and plucking the boy on the forehead. “Ow!” Rin cried, glaring up at the Boogeyman.

“Jack will hate me. He’ll be disappointed. He won’t want me anymore!” Onna said softly.

“Of all the things you’ve said, that is the most ridiculous. Jack will never stop wanting you.” Pitch looked up at Rin. “Go find Jack.”

“What?” the Fearling asked.

“No, please!” Onna begged, pulling back to look up at Pitch.

“Find Jack,” Pitch maintained his position. “Tell him what happened before he gets here.” Pitch gazed down at Onna. “You’re going to see what I mean.”

Her terror was painful to him, but she needed to understand that Jack wasn’t going to abandon her over this. As Rin stood up to leave, Onna buried her face in Pitch’s chest again. Once the Fearling was gone, she whispered, “I didn’t want to be evil.”

“Onna, look at me,” he said. “It’s alright, you can look at me.” After hesitating, she obeyed. Her wide eyes were just as painful as her fear. “Now, understand something. Protecting people does not make you evil. Defending yourself does not make you evil. Do you understand?” She looked away before nodding. “What those men were doing, if you described the situation correctly, was wrong. They deserved to be punished.” After he’d said it, he thought briefly that Jack might have wanted him to be a little gentler with the phrasing. Either way, Pitch had a point to get through to Onna. “And you are not evil for acting out of instinct.”

She looked back up at him, her lip quivering again as she said, “But I never wanted to kill them. I just wanted to stop them, not kill them. I didn’t mean to—.”

He stopped her before she started crying again. “Of course you didn’t mean to kill them. But mortals can’t survive the severity of your gaze. You knew that.” Before she began thinking he was reprimanding her for that, he said, “Have you ever hurt another mortal?” She shook her head. “Do you want to hurt another mortal?” She shook her head again. “Then you are not evil. Haven’t I told you before?”

“You said I could decide which side I was on.”

“Exactly. Have you chosen to be evil?” Again, she shook her head. “Then there’s no problem here.” Taking her hands in his, marveling at the ice that crept over his flesh and up his sleeves. “Not with me. Not with Rin. And not with Jack, either.”

She sniffled, staring up at him. “Will the Guardians come after me?” she asked. And there it was: the question he wasn’t positive he could answer.

“I doubt it,” he decided. “I sincerely doubt they’d do that, especially given how you defended a small child in the process.” Her anxiety was still heavy, but he thought talking to her had helped. Settling back against his chest, he wrapped his arms around her again and just held her. This was what she needed: comfort. She didn’t need to be reprimanded. It was clear she was doing enough of that herself. In Pitch’s mind, she’d done nothing wrong. He’d hoped he’d conveyed that to her.

After a few moments, he felt the cold wind that signaled Jack’s entry into the lair. When he heard bare feet hitting, stone, Pitch knew it wouldn’t be long before the youngest Guardian rounded the corner and met them head-on. Onna stiffened in his arms, closing her eyes tight and further burying himself against him. As Jack came into view, Pitch was met with the elder winter spirit’s panicked expression and frightened gaze. His chest was heaving as he dropped his staff, which Rin hastily appeared from shadow and picked up before leaning the crook against the wall. Moving quickly to the frozen bed, Jack sat down behind Onna and asked, “Onna, are you okay? Are you hurt in any way? Did any of them get—?”

“Jack, slow down and breathe,” Pitch said, holding back a smile at Jack’s priorities. They were good priorities, but Onna wasn’t going to be able to answer everything if he kept rapidly firing them at her.

After doing as Pitch said, Jack placed a gentle hand on Onna’s back. She relaxed at the touch. “Are you okay?” he started again. She nodded against Pitch’s chest. “Did you get hurt?” She shook her head. “Did any of them survive?” She shook her head, the gesture slower and more calculated than the others. Pitch could feel her gulp, waiting for Jack’s response. When Jack spoke, he wrapped his arms around her and Pitch. “Good,” he muttered, squeezing the girl tight.

Onna practically melted at that, her anxiety not completely dissipating but definitely not as intense as before. She started crying again, but this time it was because she was relieved and not fearful. Slipping an arm from around her, he placed it on Jack’s shoulders and held his winter spirits close. Resting his chin on top of Jack’s head for a moment, Rin stayed back this time. When they pulled apart, Onna sitting up straighter now, Pitch whispered, “I told you so.” Brushing her hair out of her face, Onna gave him a tired smile. Her happiness wasn’t completely restored, and her fear wasn’t completely gone. But she might have a shot at returning to her old self. Although, he was unsure that could happen. Situations like these tended to change people, even immortals. Pitch had not handled his change gracefully and Jack still bore scars from his disasters. Rin was the least affected by his incidents. At least, that was the impression he tried to give Pitch. How Onna handled this could determine the rest of her existence. He just hoped that this experience didn’t ruin her beautiful simplicity and miraculous ability to warm their home with her presence while making it colder at the same time.

He didn’t want her to be left hollow by this.

But as Jack and Pitch left the two kids alone, Onna growing weary from her exhaustive experience, he realized that she had something neither he nor Jack had had at the time of their tragedies. As she nestled into her snow covered bed, Rin settled in beside her and provided a pillow with his lap. Her fingers laced through his as he whispered, “I’ll keep the Nightmares away.” With that, she closed her eyes and sighed. Just as before, her anxiety and contentment stayed the same. But her relief was still evident.

Onna was going to have a hard time with this. It will likely take much longer for her to adjust than the time that had been given Pitch, Jack, and Rin. At least she had them at her back, though. Pitch refused to let her endure this alone, and judging by Jack’s reaction and Rin’s protectiveness, they felt the same.

**Author's Note:**

> When will you all starting realizing that I am a sadistic little shit and hate me for it?


End file.
